Not far from us something in the dark squealed its death call. I stiffened my grip on the shotgun. Down the trail I thought I saw a blue light flicker. "You see it?" I asked.
"Yup." Bill got to one knee and looked through his infared scope. "It's them alright. Maybe four of them."
More blue flickering lights started to appear in the distance. I moved in towards the brush and crouched behind a stone, holding my gun to the ground. "They're coming up the trail. I count four so far. Less than a hundred yards." He got down into a prone position. Just then we heard a short burst from an automatic rifle go off. It sounded like fabric being ripped apart. "Holy Shit! They're shooting!"